Contribute data

Overview

Data is read into the portal in Darwin Core Archive format.
A Darwin Core Archive is a zip file containing one or more delimited (e.g. CSV) files, and a metadata file which defines
what data type each column contains. Darwin Core Archives can be produced by Scratchpads, BioCASe, the GBIF IPT system,
or manually. GBIF provide a Darwin Core Archive Validator.

Darwin Core defines many terms (data types / column headings). The portal only recognises some terms; these
are described below.

Darwin Core Archive records have a star-like structure: a single central record (e.g. a name) can have multiple records
of other types linked from it — descriptions, distributions, and so on. The central name record should be of type
http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/Taxon, and needs to include these Darwin Core terms:

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/taxonID: an identifier for the taxon/name

http://purl.org/dc/terms/type: set to "Taxon".

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/datasetName: set to the name of your dataset

http://purl.org/dc/terms/license: the license the data is supplied under

http://purl.org/dc/terms/language: the language code (e.g. "en") for any descriptive data

Descriptive resources

Descriptive data of all kinds needs to be linked to a taxon
known to the portal. For the portal to recognise a taxon, it needs to use an identifier
from a taxonomic resource imported into the portal. For example, the identifier
for Nervilia ballii G. Will. is urn:kew.org:wcs:taxon:135257.
Use these identifiers in the http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/taxonID column of the
central taxon record.

Descriptive data is included using Darwin Core Archive extensions. Create one with the type
http://rs.gbif.org/terms/1.0/Description, and use these terms:

http://purl.org/dc/terms/type: the type of description, one of "general", "distribution", "habitat", "morphology", "literature".

Taxonomic resources

A taxonomic resource extends the taxonomy (names and relationships between them) of the portal. Like
descriptive data, in order to link in to the portal's taxonomy it must use the portal's identifier for a suitable higher taxon (e.g. a family).

Recognised Darwin Core terms

These terms are recognised by the portal for a Taxon:

http://purl.org/dc/terms/accessRights

http://purl.org/dc/terms/created

http://purl.org/dc/terms/license

http://purl.org/dc/terms/modified

http://purl.org/dc/terms/rights

http://purl.org/dc/terms/rightsHolder

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/bibliographicCitation

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/class

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/family

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/genus

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/infraspecificEpithet

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/kingdom

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/nameAccordingTo

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/namePublishedIn

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/namePublishedInString

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/namePublishedInYear

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/nomenclaturalCode

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/nomenclaturalStatus

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/order

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/phylum

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/scientificName

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/scientificNameAuthorship

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/scientificNameID

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/source

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/specificEpithet

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/subfamily

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/subgenus

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/subtribe

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/taxonomicStatus

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/taxonRank

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/taxonRemarks

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/tribe

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/taxonRank

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/parentNameUsage

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/acceptedNameUsage

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/originalNameUsage

http://e-monocot.org/subfamily

http://e-monocot.org/tribe

http://e-monocot.org/subtribe

These terms are recognised by the portal for a Reference:

http://purl.org/dc/terms/bibliographicCitation

http://purl.org/dc/terms/creator

http://purl.org/dc/terms/date

http://purl.org/dc/terms/description

http://purl.org/dc/terms/language

http://purl.org/dc/terms/source

http://purl.org/dc/terms/subject

http://purl.org/dc/terms/title

http://purl.org/dc/terms/type

http://purl.org/dc/terms/uri

http://rs.tdwg.org/dwc/terms/taxonRemarks

Example dataset

This example Darwin Core Archive contains the two taxa in Amborellaceae,
from the World Checklist. It also contains distributions and some other descriptive data. The id for the family is
urn:kew.org:wcs:family:87, which needs to be used to link into the portal's classification.